Although there have been improvements in overall quality and outcomes in care transitions since introducing pharmacists to the process, transition of care notably lacks interventions that enable collaboration with, or incorporation of, community pharmacists.

The most modifiable component of complications caused by antibiotic resistance, which leads to increased healthcare costs and poor health outcomes, is antibiotic use. It is estimated that up to 50% of outpatient antibiotic prescriptions are inappropriate,2 and are most often indicated for acute respiratory infections.

The star ratings program from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is one of the systems used to measure quality in the outpatient setting. This program is a quality-rating system for Medicare Part D health plans, and includes quality metrics that range from foreign-language interpreter availability to patient medication adherence. Pharmacy claims data metrics are considered triple-weighted, because of their emphasis on these metrics in assessing health plan quality care. Often, third-party companies calculate the value of the metrics for a community pharmacy, despite the quality metrics designed by the Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) for health plan assessment.

The National Council for Prescription Drug Programs (NCPDP), a standards development organization (SDO), has served the pharmacy services industry for approximately 40 years. The organization—which has ushered in a real-time environment for this segment of the healthcare industry—has made a practice of putting its vision into action to transform a paper-based environment into an automated one, laying a foundation for the continued expansion of pharmacist-administered clinical services.

Accountable care is transforming healthcare in the United States. Accountable care organizations (ACOs) move away from a volume-driven system—where providers are paid a fee for service—to a value-driven system, where providers are incented to keep people well, and achieve high-quality, low-cost outcomes. Although conversion to a value-driven system will take some time, the early majority of ACOs are already refining models and allocating roles for various care providers in the new system.

The Case: An elderly man with a history of arthritis, benign prostatic hypertrophy with urinary obstruction, hyperlipidemia, obesity, and a long history of tobacco use presented to a local emergency department for chest pain. An electrocardiogram revealed a new anterior myocardial infarction, and a cardiac catheterization confirmed single-vessel disease isolated to the left anterior descending artery. The resulting percutaneous coronary intervention resulted in the placement of 2 drug-eluting stents. After stent placement, the patient was placed on triple anticoagulation therapy consisting of warfarin, clopidogrel (Plavix), and aspirin.

In a recent interview with Inside Patient Care, Eric Graf, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ritzman Pharmacy, discussed what the pharmacy of the future looks like, as well as trends in community pharmacy.